Savvy Condos, Glendora Ave & Anndale Dr: Menkes Green at Yonge & Sheppard

Savvy is the Menkes building I point to when someone wants Yonge and Sheppard without living on Yonge or Sheppard. It sits one block south of Sheppard on Glendora Avenue, a residential street, and it has the amenity floor most buyers in this price range want: pool, gym, saunas and a theatre. It is not cheap per square foot, and the fee leaves out heat. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

A Menkes tower on a side street

Condos.ca does not name a developer for Savvy, but SkyriseCities lists Menkes, with Rafael + Bigauskas Architects as architect, Bryon Patton and Associates on interiors and Strybos Barron King on landscape. The same architects are credited with The Residence of Avondale on Harrison Garden Boulevard, and Savvy shares that familiar North York formula: precast, glass and concrete over a podium.

The location is what sets it apart. SkyriseCities places the tower on the north side of Glendora Avenue, west of Tradewind Avenue, one block south of Sheppard and east of Yonge. SkyriseCities describes it as near a subway hub, which is the Yonge and Sheppard interchange, but your front door is on a residential side street rather than an arterial road. That combination is getting rarer as the Sheppard corridor fills in.

The multiple addresses reflect a tower plus low-rise components. Listings appear at 17 Anndale Drive for the tower and at 19 Anndale Drive for townhouse suites. SkyriseCities describes about 290 suites in one building, while condos.ca counts 311 units for the corporation. The difference likely reflects the townhomes and final counts, but check the declaration if it matters to you.

A Menkes Green building

Savvy was marketed as a Menkes Green condominium. SkyriseCities lists the energy features as double-glazed windows, low-flow fixtures and a green roof. None of that is unusual today, but in 2012 it put the building ahead of many neighbours, and it should help keep common-area energy and water costs in check.

The lobby was designed as a showpiece, with elliptical light columns, polished wood and a crystal chandelier. A dated lobby is one of the first things buyers notice in a building of this age, so it is worth seeing whether the board has kept it up.

From compact suites to townhomes

Condos.ca gives a range of roughly 480 to 2,500 square feet, which is wider than most towers. The bottom end is a compact one-bedroom. The top end almost certainly belongs to the townhome or penthouse suites, which give the building a family-sized option that most Yonge and Sheppard towers lack.

Most of the tower stock is one-bedroom-plus-dens and two-bedroom plans, the sizes that lease easily to professionals working along the Yonge corridor. With only one suite for sale and three for lease when I checked, supply here is thin, which means you may need to wait for the right layout rather than choose from several.

I could not confirm ceiling heights. For the townhome suites, ask how the corporation divides responsibility for terraces, doors and any private entrances, because those rules vary from building to building.

Living one block off Sheppard

The daily appeal is simple. Sheppard and Yonge give you the subway, the shops and the restaurants of North York’s busiest crossroads, and Glendora gives you somewhere quieter to come home to. Traffic noise on a side street is a fraction of what towers fronting Yonge or Sheppard deal with, and that shows up most at night and on summer weekends with the windows open.

The trade-off is that the area around you will keep changing. The blocks between Yonge, Sheppard and Bayview have seen tower after tower go up over the past two decades. Check the City of Toronto’s development applications map for anything proposed nearby before you choose a suite, because an open view today is not guaranteed tomorrow. The data panel on this page shows the exact transit, schools, parks and food nearby.

For drivers, being south of Sheppard and east of Yonge also makes the 401 easy to reach without fighting through the main intersection every day.

Price per square foot, and the heat question

Condos.ca puts the building average at about $824 per square foot. That is at the upper end for the Yonge and Sheppard area: above Minto Gardens at about $721 and Spring at Minto Gardens at about $800, in line with Cosmo Two on Bales Avenue at about $831, and below the Hullmark Centre tower at 2 Sheppard East at about $884. Buyers are paying for the side-street location, the amenity floor and the Menkes name.

The fee structure matters when you compare. Condos.ca lists common elements, building insurance, parking and water as included, but not heat, hydro or air conditioning. That means you heat and cool the suite yourself, so ask the seller for a year of utility bills rather than assuming. A building with a lower fee and separate utilities can cost the same per month as an older all-inclusive one, or more.

With only one active sale listing when I checked, there is no meaningful asking-price range to quote. The data panel on this page shows what suites have actually sold and leased for, which is the better guide in a building with this little supply.

Building specifications

Amenities at Savvy Condos

This is a full amenity floor rather than the trimmed-down list many newer towers offer: a pool, gym and saunas for daily use, plus a private dining room and two guest suites for hosting. That depth is part of what you are paying for in the price per square foot.

Jatin’s honest take on Savvy Condos

Savvy Condos — frequently asked questions

Looking at Willowdale, Yonge & Sheppard, Bayview Village and North York Centre more broadly? Start with my Toronto community guide — the neighbourhoods, what each pocket is like, and how they compare.